But then, in Friday’s Fry’s insert in the Houston Chronicle, I spotted a deal that, once I investigated , was too good to pass up. Fry’s advertised a combo that paired an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor with a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P motherboard for $249.

Generally, Intel’s Core 2 Quads outperform the AMD Phenoms I was considering, and this combo makes the Q8200 less expensive, too.

I also picked up some Corsair 800-MHz DDR2 memory for $50, with a $25 rebate. That makes the total cost of my upgrade around $275, before tax, which is well under my planned limit.

Unfortunately, I had to do this transaction two times, in two different Fry’s stores.

I initially went to the Fry’s at Interstate 45 North and West Road. They had only one Q8200 chip left, and it had been opened. After looking at it and realizing it had actually been installed in a system, I told the clerk that I wanted to cancel the whole transaction – only she’d already rung it up. She had to go through Fry’s notoriously lengthy return procedure, rather than simply void the sale.

I drove south to the Fry’s on U.S. 59 at Belfort in Stafford and went through the process again. This time, they had 21 of the CPUs – and this time I bought one that hadn’t been opened.

If I get a clear block of time this weekend, I’ll rebuild my PC. Watch TechBlog and my Twitter feed for updates.

Update: When I opened my PC’s case to begin the process, I discovered that I didn’t have the power supply I thought I had. For some reason, I remembered installing a 550-watt unit, but it’s actually a 430-watt PSU. The Gigabyte motherboard recommends at least a 500-watt PSU.

I assembled all the components, removed the old motherboard, and put the new one into the case. I installed the new power supply, inserted the video card and plugged all the various cables into place. I fired it up and . . .

Everything seems to come on. All the lights and all the fans do what they should . . . except the fan on the processor. It moves slightly, then stops. I also don’t get a video signal from the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card, which worked fine in my previous setup.

I’ve been doing some troubleshooting – reinserting the memory and video card, checking for poorly connected cables, etc. – and it’s come down to the point where I probably need to see about re-seating the processor. If that doesn’t work, I may have a faulty CPU.

Update 3.0: Master Guru suggested I needed to get some power into an 8-pin connector on the motherboard. Dr. Apps on Twitter seconded that motion. The Gigabyte manual indicates it’s needed for a 130-watt Core 2 Extreme processor, but that’s not what I have. Still, that connector provides juice to the processor.

The power supply I have doesn’t come with an 8-pin plug, but it does have two 4-pin plugs, and the Gigabyte manual says those are acceptable. I tried plugging them in, but no luck.

I also tried re-seating the processor, as well as swapping out the video card. Still no luck.

At this point, I’m going on the theory that the CPU is faulty, and I suspect I’ll be making yet another Fry’s run this week to exchange it.

Update 3.9.2009: Tonight I exhausted my troubleshooting options, and none of them worked.

Here’s what I tried, based on suggestions left as comments in this blog and via Twitter:

• Swapped out the RAM with a known-good stick.

• Tried a different power supply.

• Unplugged everything except the basics, so the graphics card, RAM and the power supply were the only things plugged into the motherboard.

• Removed the motherboard from the case and powered it up from there, in case the issue was a short. It wasn’t.

I spoke with techs from Gigabyte and Intel, who also suggested similar troubleshooting steps. The best test, though, is to substitute either the motherboard or the CPU. In the next day or so, I should have access to another processor and will install that. If it works, then the original processor was fault. If it doesn’t, a bad motherboard is the culprit.

While this has been frustrating, I’ve learned a lot, mainly thanks to the readers of this blog and my Twitter followers. Also, giant props to Adrian Kingsley-Hughes and Claus Valca – both have provided tons of good information.

When this is done, I plan to write an intensely detailed post about troubleshooting a homebrew PC.